Optimal Spacecraft Rotational Maneuvers

Optimal Spacecraft Rotational Maneuvers

This monograph has grown out of the authors' recent work directed toward solving a family of problems which arise in maneuvering modern spacecraft. The work ranges from fundamental developments in analytical dynamics and optimal control to a significant collection of example applications. The primary emphasis herein is upon the most central analytical and numerical methods for determining optimal rotational maneuvers of spacecraft. The authors focus especially upon the large angle nonlinear maneuvers, and also consider large rotational maneuvers of flexible vehicles with simultaneous vibration suppression/arrest. Each chapter includes a list of references.The book provides much new material which will be of great interest to practising professionals and advanced graduate students working in the general areas of spacecraft technology, applied mathematics, optimal control theory, and numerical optimization. Chapter 11 in particular presents new information that will be found widely useful for terminal control and tracking maneuvers.

Analytical Mechanics of Space Systems

Fundamentals of Spacecraft Attitude Determination and Control

This book explores topics that are central to the field of spacecraft attitude determination and control. The authors provide rigorous theoretical derivations of significant algorithms accompanied by a generous amount of qualitative discussions of the subject matter. The book documents the development of the important concepts and methods in a manner accessible to practicing engineers, graduate-level engineering students and applied mathematicians. It includes detailed examples from actual mission designs to help ease the transition from theory to practice and also provides prototype algorithms that are readily available on the author’s website. Subject matter includes both theoretical derivations and practical implementation of spacecraft attitude determination and control systems. It provides detailed derivations for attitude kinematics and dynamics and provides detailed description of the most widely used attitude parameterization, the quaternion. This title also provides a thorough treatise of attitude dynamics including Jacobian elliptical functions. It is the first known book to provide detailed derivations and explanations of state attitude determination and gives readers real-world examples from actual working spacecraft missions. The subject matter is chosen to fill the void of existing textbooks and treatises, especially in state and dynamics attitude determination. MATLAB code of all examples will be provided through an external website.